Chapter Fourteen
T he gun in my hand was a warning of what was to come. I knew that even if this went in our favor, not everyone would come out of it unscathed. I just had to hope that it was the guards instead of one of us.
“Are you sure about this?” Murphy whispered for the thousandth time since we had left the abandoned farmhouse.
I wanted to tell him no, that I wasn’t sure about anything. In fact, now that the camp was in view, the lines of tents begging to bring up bad memories, the only thing I wanted to do was flee. But my friends were inside those gates, my family was waiting for me, and I needed to find that bravery that sat beneath the surface.
“I’m positive,” I responded.
Our plan wasn’t foolproof, and so many things could go wrong. Murphy pulled me into his arms, holding me tight. Our hearts beat as one, pounding an uneven rhythm.
“I’ll see you soon.” Murphy pressed his forehead against mine, breathing me in, and then he broke away.
Stealthily moving out of view of the guards manning the gates, he trekked around the perimeter, heading toward the front. Unfortunately, I was no tactical specialist. Which meant this plan was eerily similar to the last. We were banking on a distraction.
I had offered to be the distraction like last time, but Murphy had vetoed that idea. On one hand, he was a better shot, and if it came down to that, he’d be able to last longer against the multiple guards. Also, Murphy had never stepped foot inside the camp. If one of us had a better opportunity to find the others, it was me.
I tracked Murphy’s movements until he vanished from my sight, and then I took a fortifying breath. My chest heaved with anxiety, my hand twitching around the pistol I gripped firmly. The bag filled with the extra guns heavy on my back.
Trying to settle my nerves, I took one last breath, and then I walked toward the back gate.
I channeled Warner, blending in with the shadows of the trees, to avoid detection. The gate came closer and closer, an imposing force, the hairs on my arms sticking on end. The back of the gate had fewer guards than out front, although a couple still milled around.
“Come on Murphy,” I mumbled under my breath, waiting for their attention to be drawn elsewhere.
Seconds turned into minutes, my hands growing sweaty, my grip on the gun lacking. But just when I was about to give up hope, decide that turning back was the better option, shouting drew my attention.
The camp wasn’t that large, but the space between the front and back was still more than my voice could ever be heard. And yet, Murphy’s loud voice reached me from where I stood.
“Hey assholes! I’ve seemed to have lost something and I’m pretty sure you have it!”
Terror was a steady stream through my veins, but my lips still tilted up in a ghost of a smile. The three guards dotting the back of the gate looked to each other in confusion, their feet planted as they glanced toward Murphy’s noise.
Murphy continued yelling, shouting nonsense about all that they had stolen, creating a list of things he wanted back. One of the guards held a radio up to his ear and then, finally, they wandered to the right, making their way to the front of the camp.
Pushing out of the shadows, I ran toward the gate, knowing that Murphy had done his job, and now it was my turn. In the dark, it was hard to make out exactly where the gap in the fence had been.
After several minutes of searching, I realized I couldn’t find the right spot because it no longer existed. They had one chink in their armor, but after we had abused it, they had fixed the issue. And now I was fucked.
Frantically searching around for another option, I knew I was running out of time. Murphy couldn’t hold the guards' attention forever and I needed to be inside these gates before they returned.
My eyes fell on the ten-foot fence in front of me and I swore under my breath. Tucking the gun into my waistband like I had seen the guys do hundreds of times, I wiped my sweaty palms on my shirt.
I wasn’t a natural climber. I hadn’t gone into my backyard and scaled the large trees. But right now, I was about to be the best climber in the world. Grabbing onto the chains, I hoisted my body up, fitting my feet into the gaps.
Slower than I wanted, I climbed higher and higher until I sat atop the fence. Due to the late hour, no one was around to see the strange girl sitting above them, and thanks to Murphy, no guards noted my movements either.
I sat for several seconds, realizing the climb up was probably easier than the climb down. Tossing my legs over the lip of the fence, I clung to the chains, trying to slowly lower myself, but I gave up after the first step. I was wasting time and it wasn’t that high.
Holding my breath, I pushed my feet against the chain, releasing my hands, until my body fell. I braced for the impact, landing on my feet unsteadily, wobbling a bit. But I didn’t fall and my ankles stayed intact.
Pushing my hair out of my eyes, I scanned the camp, trying to think of where Aiden, Warner, Rainer, Sasha, and Mina would be. If I had kidnapped people in the middle of the night, people that had stolen information that no one should know, I definitely wouldn’t place them in a tent. No, the information would spread like wildfire.
Which meant there was only one option. The large building loomed before me, that red clock mocking me. Time was ticking.
Following the path between the tents, I kept my ears peeled, the commotion out front still going on. I knew that although Murphy had distracted the outer guards, the building would be just as heavily armed. If not more so. My only hope was that most of those inside would be asleep at this hour.
Although I tried to convince myself of that, I still grabbed the gun from my pants, securing it back in my hand. I was hiding behind the tent nearest to the building when the first shot rang out.
My body froze, my head whipping toward Murphy’s location. It was too far and too dark to see who had taken the shot. My instincts tore me in half, one part begging to go help Murphy and the other pleading to save the five people inside.
The choice was made for me when more shots rang out, the five guards surrounding the entrance to the building scampering away. I couldn’t focus on Murphy right now, I only could hope that he was okay as I rushed for the door.
I went to swing the wooden door open, but it didn’t budge, locked in place. “Shit, think of something, Alessia,” I murmured under my breath.
Without much thought, I remembered Warner unlocking the doors in the basement and aimed the gun. I was close enough that it didn’t matter I wasn’t a good shot, the bullet ricocheted off the metal, the lock popping open.
I knew the noise would bring more guards back here and so I didn’t waste a moment, pushing the door out of my way and sprinting inside. Thankfully, something seemed to be going my way and most of the desks scattered around the main floor were empty.
Only two seats were taken, one by a skinny man with glasses and the other with a dark-haired woman. I held up the gun in warning, hoping they didn’t notice the way my hand shook.
“Don’t move,” I ordered them and two sets of wide eyes met mine before their gazes dropped, their typing continuing.
A rugged breath escaped me, and then I was before the stairs, pushing the door open. My feet froze. Memories flooded my brain, Vex’s cruel smile at the forefront. Phantom pain rushed through my arms and legs, a reminder of what was done there.
It was like I was on the edge of the woods again, terrified to take the next step toward the horrors I had escaped. I craved for someone’s presence, for someone to take my hand as Mina had and lead me.
But Mina was here. They had to all be down in those rooms, prisoners to the cruelty. The first step was the hardest, my entire body shaking. But once both feet were planted, I gathered whatever courage I could, hurrying the rest of the way down.
I hadn’t anticipated anyone being down here, too caught up in my own worries. And that lack of thought made me an idiot. A stocky guard stood in front of the door I had spent many nights in and I recognized him as one of the men who had roughly handled me to and from this prison.
Time seemed to slow as he called out in anger, his hand reaching for his weapon. But my weapon was already poised, never leaving my grip, and my finger found the safety before I could think.
The pressure of my finger on the trigger mimicked the pressure on my chest as the gun sounded, the bullet traveling through the short distance. The man’s eyes widened in shock, drifting from my face to the blood already pooling on his chest.
And then he collapsed. I knew the bullet had hit a major artery. There was too much blood. His eyes were too blank. And I knew I had killed him.
The shaking of my hands increased, the gun clattering to the ground; the sound echoing in the silence. I barely heard anything beside the beating of my heart, drumming out a rhythm that deafened me.
I killed him.
He was dead.
I was a killer.
The theoretical held nothing to the reality. In my head, I could take a life if it meant saving mine. If it meant saving the others. But in reality, I couldn’t fathom what I had done.
Was I a monster?
A loud banging spurred me from the dark thoughts. The sound had come from the room before me. Not knowing who waited on the other side, I picked the gun back up, trying to steady my hands.
With short breaths, I dug through the man’s pockets until I gripped cool metal in my hand. A ring of three keys were clasped in my hand. I tried the first one, to no avail. The second took several attempts, my focus blurry, but finally, the lock clicked.
Opening the door, the weapon raised, I came face to face with the five people I had killed for.